System and method to shorten the time taken to improve inter-cell interference mitigation performance using adaptive fractional frequency reuse

Abstract

A wireless base station apparatus includes an interference report receiver configured to receive interference reports transmitted on a shared radio resource from a plurality of wireless terminals that are present in a plurality of adjacent cells that are adjacent to a target cell, the shared radio resource being comprised of a plurality of carriers and being shared between the plurality of adjacent cells, and an adaptive fractional frequency reuse controller configured to control adaptive fractional frequency reuse processing in a downlink of the target cell, based on the received interference reports showing a downlink reception quality, wherein the interference reports are transmitted using selected carriers from the plurality of carriers by the plurality of wireless terminals, based on the downlink reception quality.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A wireless base station apparatus comprising:
 an interference report receiver configured to receive interference reports transmitted from a plurality of wireless terminals that are present in a plurality of adjacent cells that are adjacent to a target cell, the interference reports being transmitted using selected carriers out of a plurality of carriers by each of the plurality of wireless terminals, based on a downlink reception quality from the wireless base station to each of the plurality of wireless terminals, the plurality of carriers being shared between the plurality of adjacent cells; and 
 an adaptive fractional frequency reuse controller configured to select one of a first transmission mode, a second transmission mode, and a third transmission mode, and 
 control a transmission power in accordance with the selected one of the first transmission mode the second transmission mode, and the third transmission mode, wherein: 
 when power measurement values of the selected carriers are greater than an interference evaluation threshold, selecting as the first transmission mode, a carrier having a lowest downlink reception quality among the selected carriers, or as the second transmission mode, a carrier having a highest power measurement value among the selected carriers, and 
 when the power measurement values of the selected carriers corresponding to the first and second transmission modes are all lower than the interference evaluation threshold, selecting as the third transmission mode, a carrier having a highest downlink reception quality, and 
 the power measurement value of each of the selected carriers is calculated by combining the received interference reports using each of the selected carriers. 
 
     
     
       2. The wireless base station apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a stop signal transmitter configured to transmit an interference report stop signal for stopping a wireless terminal that is present in the target cell from transmitting an interference report during a shared transmission period in which the plurality of wireless terminals that are present in the plurality of adjacent cells transmit the interference reports. 
     
     
       3. The wireless base station apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a despreading section configured to receive interference reports spread using different spreading codes between the plurality of adjacent cells, and despread the received interference reports using the different spreading codes to generate despread signals of the plurality of adjacent cells; and 
 a power combiner configured to combine powers of the despread signals of the plurality of adjacent cells; 
 wherein the adaptive fractional frequency reuse controller selects the first transmission mode or the second transmission mode based on a value of the combined power. 
 
     
     
       4. The wireless base station apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of carriers includes a direct current carrier. 
     
     
       5. A transmission control method performed by a base station apparatus, comprising:
 (a) receiving interference reports transmitted from a plurality of wireless terminals that are present in a plurality of adjacent cells that are adjacent to a target cell, the interference reports being transmitted using selected carriers out of a plurality of carriers by each of the plurality of wireless terminals, based on a downlink reception quality from the wireless base station to each of the plurality of wireless terminals, the plurality of carriers being shared between the plurality of adjacent cells; 
 (b) selecting one of a first transmission mode, a second transmission mode, and a third transmission mode, the selecting comprising: 
 when power measurement values of the selected carriers are greater than an interference evaluation threshold, selecting as the first transmission mode, a carrier having a lowest downlink reception quality among the selected carriers, or as the second transmission mode, a cattier having a highest power measurement value among the selected carriers, and 
 when the power measurement values of the selected carriers corresponding to the first and second transmission modes are all lower than the interference evaluation threshold, selecting as the third transmission mode, a carrier having a highest downlink reception quality, 
 wherein the power measurement value of each of the selected carriers is calculated by combining the received interference reports using each of the selected carriers; and 
 (c) controlling transmission power in accordance with the selected first transmission mode, the selected second transmission mode, or the selected third transmission mode.